West Side Community Fund boosts nonprofit outreach efforts in NYC

NEW YORK (PIX11) – At a time when funding for community organizations is scarce, a group of businesses is coming together to help with critical financing, helping keep non-profits afloat.  

PIX11’s Monica Morales has the story of one West Side church and a non-profit helping people experiencing homelessness. 

The historic Metro Baptist church on 40th Street is a place for spiritual healing, but it’s also become a hub of help and hope for families. For 40 years, Kathleen Conry has been volunteering in the basement of Metro Baptist church on the west side. 

This afternoon, she’s sorting and distributing clothing for families in need. She says small gestures of kindness mean so much.

Just a few feet away, Rachel Tigay, a volunteer from a non-profit called Artists Athletes Activists, is in the kitchen cooking roasted vegetables and baked ziti. For three years, Tigay has been known as the kitchen queen here, trying to do her part to help. 

Volunteers like these, Tiffany Triplett Henkel, the Executive Director of Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries, says, are the heart and soul of the outreach. 

Her group helps more than  14,000 people each year.  Providing food, clothing, and educational programs. Her organization just got a big boost—thousands of dollars from the West Side Community Fund. 

WSCF is a group of businesses in the neighborhood that have come together to show they care with a check. Eighteen community organizations got much-needed funding from WSCF, a total of $200,000 just this year. 

The funding is not just a one-time deal.  

So far, the Henkel organization has received help five times.  Each time she says it’s a lifesaver.

For the next round of funding, groups can apply in August. Grants are up to $10,000 each. 

Here’s the entire list of non-profits that got the money:

• Food Education Fund – an initiative offering professional development training in hospitality and fine dining for high school students
• Friends of Argentine Tango – a group that promotes and brings the positive benefits of dancing Tango and other Latin social dances to people who might not otherwise try them will use the funding for an immersive, twelve-week class tailored to seniors.
• Friends of Chelsea Green Park – a group that organizes community events at Chelsea Green Park will run a series of programs specifically designed for seniors and adults without children.
• Fulton Houses Tenant Association and Gotham Food Pantry – an initiative that advances food justice by distributing food to residents of Fulton Houses through Gotham Food Pantry
• Fundavenyc – an initiative that will train certified volunteers to connect housing seekers to affordable housing opportunities
• Fund for Public Housing, Inc. – a five-week initiative that empowers NYCHA youth at Harborview Terrace and Chelsea-Elliot housing to collaboratively identify and implement tech solutions that strengthen communications, access to information, and community engagement
• Hearty Start – a nonprofit that facilitates a daily meal service that supplies 1,250 sandwiches each week to the unhoused population in the surrounding Chelsea neighborhood
• Midtown South Community Council – a not-for-profit organization dedicated to building better neighborhoods and stronger relationships in Midtown South Manhattan will use the funds to enhance the MSCC Urban Farm's infrastructure, increasing its capacity to distribute fresh produce and provide healthy food to families, shelters, and the elderly.
• Newcomer Something – language and enrichment summer programming for incoming Landmark High School students experiencing food insecurity and living in temporary housing
• P94M at P51 – an initiative that engages students and their families in a gardening project to grow fresh produce they can take home, helping to relieve food insecurity
• PS 33 Chelsea Prep, a Manhattan elementary school, will use the funding to support students in need by providing emergency essential items and assisting families facing housing instability.
• QARAVAN – an organization that offers targeted, community-driven support for LGBTQ participants in unstable housing through skill-building workshops offering critical resources in housing, healthcare, and employment
• Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries – a nonprofit organization that provides direct and educational services that promote individual and community growth- will use the funding to support their programming to support the unhoused.
• St. Paul's House – a non-profit organization operating Creighton’s Café, a soup kitchen that provides 40-60 meals daily, and connects clients to the resources they need- will utilize the funding for groceries.s
• Startup NYCHA – a Cambio Labs initiative that equips NYCHA residents with the skills, mentorship, and resources needed to build and sustain their businesses
• Student Leadership Network – a college access program serving over 800 students, maximizing their access to financial aid and other college preparation resources
• VISIONS: Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired - an organization that offers intergenerational technology programs, connecting blind older adults with both blind and sighted teenagers
• Xavier Mission – a non-profit organization running an eviction prevention program that serves low-income New Yorkers at risk of homelessness